“We don't like checklists. They can be painstaking. They're not much fun. But I don't think the issue here is mere laziness. There's something deeper, more visceral going on when people walk away not only from saving lives but from making money. It somehow feels beneath us to use a checklist, an embarrassment. It runs counter to deeply held beliefs about how the truly great among us—those we aspire to be—handle situations of high stakes and complexity. The truly great are daring. They improvise. They do not have protocols and checklists. Maybe our idea of heroism needs updating.”

– Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

We are living in a fast age. Patients rapidly admitted, knowledge changes rapidly, and guidelines are changed every day. In a rapidly changing medical world, it is necessary to standardize care because mistakes occur even by the best of doctors, and checklists are one way to prevent these mistakes. This issue of the Journal includes an article on all the checklists used by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in heart failure patients. These have been validated in the wards and clinics and are ready to use. Most of the cardiac patients are sick and carrying multiple investigations, but it is sometimes difficult to arrive at a diagnosis in some patients and also prognosticate. A new way to look at these data is to use the new method of machine learning or the more glamorous name “Artificial Intelligence” where a large amount of data are converted into patterns which can predict diseases or future events. Our team from AIIMS and IIT Delhi delves into this issue. We have our usual update on the cardiology happenings in the last 4 months, and the major trials are in the Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Replacement Group of trials where the benefit in low-risk patients is showing. The book review section covers “Thinking Fast and Slow,” a must read for those interested in “Thinking!” The journal club looks at triglyceride reduction. The bedside case covers the presentation and management of Eisenmenger syndrome. History of Medicine covers the discovery of the Doppler effect. We look at some new concepts such as atrial cardiomyopathy, tumor necrosis factor alpha gene polymorphisms, coronary artery disease (CAD) in women, uric acid as a marker in cardiac masses, and CAD in the young.

In August, we would have completed 25 years of heart transplantation in India, the first heart transplant having been done at AIIMS by Dr. P. Venugopal in August 1994. AIIMS will celebrate 25 years of Heart Transplantation at AIIMS in the 1st week of August 2019. We will also hold Cardiovascular Research Convergence 2019, along with the celebrations. Do join us for these events.